Hot topic: Wisconsin State agency banishes ‘climate change’

Employees of a Wisconsin State government agency can’t do ‘climate change work’ while on the clock, following a controversial partisan vote. While critics call it a gag order, supporters say it keeps politics out of the workplace.

In a 2-1 vote earlier this week, Wisconsin's Board of
Commissioners of Public Lands (BCPL) barred employees from
“engaging in global warming or climate change work” on
BCPL time. That reportedly includes even answering emails about
the subject.

“It’s not a part of our sole mission, which is to make money
for our beneficiaries,” said State Treasurer Matt Adamczyk,
who initiated the proposal and is one of the two Republicans on
the board. “That’s what I want our employees working on.
That’s it. Managing our trust funds.”

It seems the words 'climate change' are now to be political to
use and have been banned.... https://t.co/fCI6UTNhQI

The agency’s mission, according to the BCPL website, is to
“contribute to Wisconsin’s sustainable timber economy, combat
forest fragmentation, protect unique natural areas and secure
public access to large blocks of northern forests.”
BCPL-managed trust funds support school libraries and public
projects.

Wisconsin Secretary of State Douglas La Follette, a Democrat,
called Adamczyk a “climate change denier” and said the
measure was specifically targeting the Board’s executive
secretary, Tia Nelson, and other environmentalists.

“Part of it is he hates environmental people,” La
Follette told the Wisconsin State Journal. “And that
includes me.”

Nelson is the daughter of former Wisconsin governor and US
senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of Earth Day. She served on
former Democratic governor Jim Doyle’s global warming task force
in 2007-2008, but says she has not touched the issue since.

State Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican, voted with La
Follette against the proposal to fire Nelson several weeks
earlier, but sided with Adamczyk on the ban.

“It would be irresponsible for me to vote to prospectively
permit government employees to engage in political activity while
at work,” Schimel said in a statement. “I would have
voted the same as to any political activity.”

Last month, an employee of the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection was suspended after mentioning climate
change at a meeting. The department has reportedly banned the use
of terms such as ‘climate change’, and ‘global warming’ in
official communications after the Republican governor Rick Scott
took office.